


We're Not As Different As We Seem To Be (There's So Much More To Me Than What You See)

by revenblue



Category: Phineas and Ferb
Genre: Character Study, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, M/M, POV Second Person, Perry the Platypus Gets A Hug, Perry the Platypus Needs A Hug, Phineas-2 and Ferb-2 cameo, Self-cest, honestly they both do, my favourite type of h/c: canon hurt them time for comfort, past trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-13
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:35:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26997577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/revenblue/pseuds/revenblue
Summary: Perry checks in on the Second Dimension.
Relationships: Perry the Platyborg/Perry the Platypus (Phineas and Ferb)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 18





	We're Not As Different As We Seem To Be (There's So Much More To Me Than What You See)

You'd wondered how long it would take. The Other Dimension O.W.C.A. had sounded a lot like yours had been, meddling in everyone's business, so it had always been a matter of time until they sent someone over to investigate. That they sent your counterpart, the other Perry, isn't much of a surprise either.

After all, he's indirectly responsible for overloading the circuits woven through your body, that had commanded you to obey. And, you suppose, he's _you_. A _you_ who never had to deal with his nemesis snapping the way yours did.

Sometimes you catch yourself wondering what the difference was, in his dimension. What changed the path his Doofenshmirtz took.

When you'd first seen him, the other Perry, flesh and blood and not a scrap of metal in sight, you'd felt a glimmer of hope under the emotion dampeners, the first in years. Hope that there was an escape, freedom from the madman you'd been unable to think of as anything but _master_.

Before that, actually. When you'd seen _his_ nemesis. _His_ Doofenshmirtz, who hadn't turned to cruelty the way yours had. That much had been obvious in his every movement.

Now, the other Perry tips his hat to you in acknowledgement, a gesture you return. Your hat isn't a fedora, not any more. That life is long behind you. Nor is it the helmet you'd worn as Doofenshmirtz's general, that man's fingerprints embedded into the metal, a sign of his cruel hands on you. No, the one you wear now came from your boys.

The pain Doofenshmirtz caused isn't something you have reason to think about much these days, thankfully. Your boys have made sure of that, fixing the wounds left by a man who didn't care who suffered under his boot.

You lead the other Perry outside, into the sunlight you're still getting used to, after the years of Doofenshmirtz rule hanging over Danville like a cloud. It's hard to believe that was only months ago. Is that how long it's been for him? Does time run the same speed in his dimension? Would you even know?

While you walk, you explain what's happened since he was here, between Doofenshmirtz's escape and his wife's complicity. That last part seems to take him by surprise, somehow. Another difference.

Your boys are hard at work with the rebuilding, when you lead the other Perry past the construction zone, and you wave-

He tackles you to the ground, teeth bared in a snarl, his weight on your chest. It doesn't _hurt_ , one thing to be thankful to your metal body for, but you're so shocked you can't respond. Why is he so aggressive all of a sudden? He's _you_ , and you don't-

Slamming his fist into your jaw, he growls, a low, pained, sound. What did you _do_? He's showing more emotion here even than when his entire dimension had been at stake, so what's so different about _now_?

"Perry? Perry!"

Phineas. That's Phineas's voice, running over. Ferb will be beside him, you know without looking, curling in on yourself on instinct, arms over your head, a shield against the other Perry's attacks.

All at once, whatever rage drives him burns out and he slumps into you, shaking with every sob. Not your fault, then. You wrap your arms around him, still unused to comfort and comforting after everything, even months later, but determined to make an effort, to prove Doofenshmirtz didn't destroy the good left in you. What else can you do?

He's tense, as your boys approach, like he's not used to this either. What if he's not that different from you? He _is_ you. A you that never lost his family, his identity, his _life_ , the way you did, but something still gnaws at him.

Is it his nemesis? No, that wouldn't explain it. His family? He was able to talk to them as equals, you remember that much, so he _has_ that-

Unless he doesn't. He's still an OWCA agent, under their rules. Did they force him to give up his family? From what you remember of your past life with them, you wouldn't put it past the bastards. That's why you're never going back. As much Good as you did as an agent, as fulfilling as it was before Doofenshmirtz stripped it all from you, nothing can get you back under a fedora.

Ferb reaches your side first, Phineas on his heels. Together, they lift the other Perry up off you and onto his feet, where he wipes at his eyes and sniffs.

"Why did you _do_ that?" Phineas demands, putting himself in the way. They both do.

Standing, you rest a paw on their shoulders. They don't need to protect you. It's nice that they care, but you can look after yourself, you've had worse. You survived Doofenshmirtz.

_This_ is different. How can you be upset at him when you _know_ him. You know _him_ better than you know _yourself_ , these days, and you know _why_ he did it. Nothing Doofenshmirtz did to you ever hurt as much as being taken from your family.

You step forward, hugging the other Perry. The other _you_. Ferb follows your lead, Phineas reluctantly joining in afterwards. The three of you hold him close, the way you'd always wished you could hug your boys, back in your first life. You hope it's enough for him, for now. From the way he relaxes into you, tears dripping from his bill, you think it might be.

* * *

The rest of his visit goes calmly enough, and then he's preparing to go back, checking his watch incessantly. The restlessness of a platypus with an appointment to keep. Time must pass about the same in his dimension, then, for his watch to be trustworthy.

What kind of life does he lead, over there? A world without your Doofenshmirtz...

Old memories of pre-Doofenshmirtz times still linger in the back of your mind, two lifetimes ago, so far removed from your current reality they're almost meaningless. That world is gone, for you. For everyone. These days, you prefer to look to the future, not dwell on the past.

He'd mentioned, during one of your conversations, that he still has his family, but not their memories of that day. That's what had been eating away at him for so long.

A lonely life, you'd thought, and to your surprise he'd brought up his nemesis. The other Doofenshmirtz. Something in his eyes kept you from asking more, despite everything you've wondered about the man since your brief meeting. What made him so different? Where did their paths diverge, that one could be so cruel and the other anything but?

As much as you still don't understand about this other Perry, his family, his world, his _nemesis_ , you won't keep him from them. His place isn't here.

He's pacing now, tail flicking side to side in impatience. It's still whole, and you reach out without thinking to touch it, to feel his fur under the paw you hadn't lost. Is this what yours would be like, if it hadn't been for Doofenshmirtz? Soft, twitching, bending into your touch.

With a shiver, he turns to face you. For an instant you're certain he'll punch you for it. But no, all he does is step closer, a strange expression on his face, and run his palm over the warm metal of your chest plate. A touch you wish you could feel. He must have been wondering about it, like you'd wondered about him and all the ways he's still unchanged, untouched by hands that still make you shudder at the thought.

His other palm curls around your jaw, thumbing at your cheek the edge of your replacement eye. This, you can feel. Your boys don't treat you any differently for it but him, this other you, he can't help it. Picturing himself in the skin you have left, while you try to remember what it's like to be him.

Lifting your own paw, you shift his around to the back of your neck, where wires bury themselves under your skin, where your spine had been. Can he imagine _this_? Electricity running through you instead of nerves, a body that only sometimes feels like your own, changed irrevocably at the hands of your Doofenshmirtz. Could he imagine what you feel, what it's like to loathe the man with every fibre of your being?

A flicker of emotion crosses his face and his paw tenses, then he's pulling you close, into a hug. After all, he knows you. He _is_ you.

And you're sick of pretending you're fine. He already knows you're not, because _he's_ not. Clutching at his furred shoulders, you breathe in his scent, wishing you could properly feel the way his chest is pressed to yours. Another thing Doofenshmirtz took from you.

Tears escape your eye, and he brushes it away with his thumb, tipping your head up to meet his sympathetic gaze. He's shorter than you, somehow. One more memento of the worst part of your life.

Leaning forward, he rubs his bill against your neck, just above the metal that makes up most of your body, and you shiver for the first time in years. This, you can feel. It's reassuring, to know there's something that man hadn't touched, hadn't destroyed. Something you can reclaim as your own.

When the portal opens, you step back, letting him go. Back to his own family.

He nods, tail twitching in what you almost think is disappointment, and turns to face it. On the other side, his world. From the way he takes one more glance back at you, and what you remember of _your_ O.W.C.A., you doubt this will be the last you'll see of this other Perry.

Then he steps through, and the portal winks shut behind him. You're alone.

Not alone. Footsteps echo through the room that had once been your lair, two lifetimes ago, followed by your boys, Phineas laughing at something Ferb must have said. You smile, joining them. This is enough.

**Author's Note:**

> Title from [Brother, My Brother](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B78oihNUE1o) by Blessid Union Of Souls. What can I say, Pokémon The First Movie seems to have had a massive influence on me as a person. :P
> 
> Perryborg is so fascinating to me. The contrast with mainverse Perry, the lingering reminders of his trauma... He really needs a hug :c As does Perry.
> 
> ~~Maybe someday I'll write a sequel to this. I have some ideas, but I'm also buried under a mountain of other WIPs so don't hold your breath.~~


End file.
